The Old Apartment
by Firebird
Summary: Ed and Alfons take a trip down memory lane.


Title: The Old Apartment  
Author: Firebird  
Pairing: Ed/Alfons  
Word Count: 1365  
Warning/Notes/Disclaimer: Characters are not mine and I am not making any money off this. However, they _do_ belong to Hiromu Arakawa/Square ENIX, MBS, ANX, BONES, FUNimation Productions, Ltd. The title is also the name of the Barenaked Ladies song that plotbunnied this fic. This is an AU in which Alfons managed to not die. And while, yes, there are some references to other Ed/Alfons fics I've written, this isn't in the same timeline as them.

Ed and Alfons looked at the building they lived in before they left Germany. Before the war. It showed relatively little damage. There were boarded up windows of course, and various places with cracked bricks and facing, but it was intact overall.

"It's... in amazingly good shape. I was half-expecting there to be nothing left," Ed commented.

Alfons just nodded wordlessly. "I wonder if they still live here," he murmured.

Ed shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He headed to the door of the florist shop that was still there.

An aged but still familiar face looked up as the bell at the door dinged. "Hello boys," they were greeted. Soft laughter. "Or maybe that should be young men? It's been some time since you were the teenagers that moved into my extra apartment all those years ago."

"Not that young. Although I still find it hard to believe that it's me in the mirror, rather than my father," Ed said ruefully, pushing his glasses back into place.

Gracia smiled sadly. "I suppose you aren't, at that," she acknowledged. She turned her attention to Alfons. "And how have you been doing?"

"All right. Been doing my best to keep Edward out of trouble. Which, fortunately, he's slightly more inclined to avoid these days," Alfons said with a faint smirk. His statement earned him a mock glower from Ed, which he studiously ignored.

Gracia smiled at the by-play. "Have you anywhere to stay yet?"

Alfons shook his head. "We decided to come here first, see how you and Officer Hughes were first. Then we were thinking about checking into a hotel..." he trailed off.

"I see. Why don't you join Maes and I for dinner tonight? We can talk about what we've been doing since you left. Your old apartment is even unoccupied right now, although I'll have to warn you that there's repair supplies being stored in one of the rooms for when Maes gets in the mood to work on fixing some of the damage."

Ed glanced at Alfons. "Sure, dinner sounds good. And we were kind of wanting to visit our old apartment for a bit to relive old memories."

Gracia nodded. "I'll have the keys for you in a few minutes." Her eyes teared up. "I'm so glad you left when you did," she whispered. "I'm not sure you'd still be..." she trailed off. Ed stepped over to her and hugged her. "I know," he responded, blinking back his own tears.

* * *

Alfons ran his fingers along the frame of the bookcase in their former study. "I can't believe it's still here."

"I can't believe our _bed_ is gone," Ed said mournfully. Alfons resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"It broke while Elysia's husband was helping me move things around," a voice spoke up from the doorway. "I would ask just what you did to get it into that kind of shape, except I don't think I want to know."

Ed swiveled around. "Hey, Officer Hughes," he greeted.

Maes snorted. "I believe that at this point you can just call me Maes or Hughes, Edward. And I've gotten high enough in the ranks that I'm no longer a simple 'Officer' as you well know." He looked reflective for a moment. "Although I think I'm going to be retiring soon. Maybe within the next five years or so." He shook his head. "Gracia sent me to come retrieve you. She says the last of the food should be ready by the time we get there."

They took their time leaving their former apartment and making their way to the Hughes' living quarters, making idle chit-chat about the repairs still to be made and what Hughes would need to have some younger, possibly hired, help with.

Gracia looked up from setting down the last of the dishes of food. "You're just in time. I would have called you in another minute."

The meal proceeded cheerfully, with Hughes talking about the young man his daughter had met and married with interjections from his wife. Ed and Alfons made the appropriate reactions in the right places and talked about some of their doings as well. Finally, meal over, the leftovers were put in the refrigerator and the dishes were put in the sink to soak and they moved to the sitting room to continue the conversation.

Reclaiming the conversation from Maes, Gracia asked "So where exactly in England do you live?"

"London. Turns out to have been a bad choice of locations," Ed said wryly. "Our house took quite a bit of damage and we had to sort through rubble in a lot of places to salvage what we could. Friends are currently keeping an eye on what's left and trying to make sure that not too much stuff gets carried off while we're gone. Although the things we consider most valuable have already been secured against theft, so it's mostly broken stuff and furniture."

"Plus a couple of bad paintings that Alfons likes for some reason," he added, pre-emptively ducking Alfons' swat.

"What was the trip back like?" Maes asked, looking serious. Ed and Alfons went quiet.

"It was... interesting, for lack of a better word. The sheer damage," Alfons let his voice trail off. He wet his lips. "We investigated a few places to see if the stories were true. And they were. I wish they weren't, but they were." The look he turned towards them was filled with grief. Ed rubbed his back comfortingly. The group sunk into a gloomy silence.

"Well, it's starting to get late. I believe there are a couple of old army cots that Maes managed to scrounge up from somewhere that you can borrow for the night," Gracia said brightly.

Ed gratefully latched onto the change of subject. "Really? We wouldn't want to impose..."

"Oh, it's no imposition at all," Gracia said firmly. And that was that.

* * *

Ed stared at the blur that was the ceiling while Alfons snored away in his own cot. It felt... strange to be sleeping in this room again, as the last time it was his bedroom, was when he was a teenager, and the other times he slept in here was when he fell asleep over his work before Alfons found and shook him awake so he could go to sleep in the correct room. That being the room that had been _theirs_. And was now bedless and full of stuff. He grumbled to himself about turning into a sentimental old bastard and carefully shifted onto his side to go to sleep.

He woke up to Alfons shaking him. "All right already, I'm awake," he grumped.

"So you claim," Alfons rebutted, smiling faintly as he waited to make sure that Ed would actually get up and not just go back to sleep. Ed shook his head groggily and sat up, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

"I'll be out in a moment," he muttered. "Is there coffee?" he asked hopefully.

"There should be, by the time you finally make it to the Hughes' kitchen."

And so there was. Ed made a beeline for the pot while Maes clung possessively to his own mug with one hand and trying to maneuver the newspaper with the other. Gracia and Alfons looked on, amused.

Once Ed ingested enough coffee to feel human, he looked up. "Need any help around the place while we're here?"

"I'm sure I can find something for you to help with. After I get back from work. Until then, you may as well see what's become of the city," Hughes said, folding up his newspaper to put it away.

Ed winced. "We aren't going to like what we'll see, are we?"

"Not really, no."

* * *

Ed and Alfons stared at a museum. Or rather, what was left of it.

"What was that about it continuing to be here long after we're gone?"

"...They can rebuild it. It's been done before."

"Huh."

Their next stop was the University. They wandered through a few of the halls.

Alfons saw Ed eyeing a certain closet speculatively and cut him off before he could open his mouth. "Don't even go there."

And so it went.


End file.
